We’re back with another Pokémon TCG Pocket deck tech! A lot has changed in the game in the past few weeks. From Mythical Island releasing to Gyarados ex taking one of the top spots in the metagame, there’s been a lot going on. Two weeks have passed since our PTCGP deck tech on Charizard ex, and that deck has now largely dissipated in its competitive viability. That means we’re due for another deck to analyze. So today, we will look at “ESPain,” our take on the main competitor to the Gyarados ex deck that’s become dominant in the meta.
This deck, built around the core of Mewtwo ex and Gardevoir from Genetic Apex, now uses Mew ex from Mythical Island to shore up any glaring inconsistencies in gameplay. Let’s look closer at this deck and see what we can learn about it.
Pokémon TCG Pocket Deck: ESPain
Pokémon: 10
Items: 5
- X Speed x1
- Poké Ball x2
- Mythical Slab x2
Trainers: 5
Mew ex and the Demise of the Big 3
For the past few deck techs I’ve done, I’ve covered the “Big 3,” a trifecta of Pokémon TCG Pocket decks dominating the metagame since the game’s inception. As of now, I can safely say that two of the Big 3 are dead. Pikachu ex decks as well as Charizard ex decks are all but a memory. The only deck remaining of the Big 3 has, fittingly enough, evolved to survive. That deck is Mewtwo ex.
ESPain, abbreviated from “Extrasensory Pain,” contains the usual Mewtwo ex and Gardevoir core, but adds a few new support pieces from the Mythical Island mini-set that work in tandem to provide a strong deck that seldom folds. Mewtwo ex synergizes extremely well with Gardevoir, with Gardevoir’s ability, Psy Shadow, providing one extra Psychic Energy to its Active Pokémon. With two attacks, one costing two Energy and one costing four, Mewtwo ex always has a fairly fast clock with Gardevoir supporting it.
Enter Mew ex
But how did Mewtwo ex become the last deck of the Big 3 to survive? The answer lies in Mew ex, a strangely ubiquitous Psychic-type Basic Pokémon that can take down most threats with their own attacks. Occasionally, this happens even before the threat can even use those attacks. Furthermore, with a Retreat cost of only one Energy and new support in the form of Budding Expeditioner, a card like Koga but only for Mew ex, Mew ex can evade being Knocked Out pretty handily as well. The Mewtwo ex deck was largely struggling to do more than act as a wall with their lone copy of standard-issue Mewtwo, so that’s been summarily dropped for Mew ex.
Reasons to Doubt Psychic Power
As of right now, the ESPain game plan is somewhat stymied by a lack of room for a copy or two of Giovanni. Giovanni would provide an extra 10 damage to your Mew ex or Mewtwo ex, which means that Mew ex with one Psychic Energy can Knock Out an opposing Magikarp in a single hit, or a fully-energized Mew ex can Knock Out a Druddigon, the new “best wall in the game,” as many players claim online. These two Pokémon happen to be the barriers to defeating a Gyarados ex deck quickly or efficiently. Furthermore, Mewtwo ex could Knock Out an opposing Froakie with two Psychic Energy and a Giovanni. The card is very helpful and would undoubtedly speed this deck right up, and yet we can’t find an optimal slot for it.
However, it’s possible that us running Sabrina in this deck is ultimately why the deck does a bit worse than we want it to. Is this better or worse than using two copies of Giovanni? Perhaps, one way or another. Additional testing will determine this best.
The Headachy Cost of Extrasensory Pain
The key barrier to this deck is a relatively prohibitive acquisition cost. Thankfully, some cards in the deck require Shop Tickets or for players to go through the introductory demo play to obtain. However, the cards in the deck can be quite expensive in Pack Points:
- Shop Tickets: 10
- Genetic Apex Pack Points: 1,650
- Mythical Island Pack Points: 1,210
- Total Pack Points: 2,860
With such a high cost to acquire the cards singularly, hopefully by now you have at least some of the cards involved. If you’re entirely new to the game, a slight breakdown may also be necessary here.
For the Genetic Apex Pack Points, 140 are from the Charizard subset of packs (for Sabrina). If testing proves fruitful, Giovanni is in the Mewtwo subset and costs the same as Sabrina. Meanwhile, the other 1,510 fittingly come from Mewtwo subset packs. Everything else comes from promo cards or Mythical Island, which only has one pack type. As such, if you want to build ESPain from nothing, we recommend opening Mewtwo subset packs of Genetic Apex first, then Mythical Island, then Charizard subset Genetic Apex packs.
Thankfully, while Genetic Apex and Mythical Island Pack Points can’t intersect, subsets of a given pack’s Pack Points can. Furthermore, this deck seems to have more staying power than Charizard ex did, and that one cost considerably more to fully obtain.
All In Your Head
In the end, ESPain is a strong deck, but has a few challenges to overcome before cementing itself further. Even so, it’s not a deck to underestimate! Thus far, it seems to be the strongest deck we’ve covered, surviving the fall of the Big 3 archetypes and persisting near the top even still. If you build it, you likely won’t regret it.
Want more Pokémon TCG Pocket content? Check out our deck tech for Pikachu ex. Or take a look at our guide to all the different currency types in the game.
